The topic of equal salaries for men and women is still a big cause for discussion: in fact, even Hollywood has recently found itself in the limelight, with actresses speaking out against the disparity in wages between men and women. Closer to home, the government has just announced that it is to establish new measures to help reduce the gender pay gap in the UK.

Although it has been illegal to pay employees unequal salaries for the same type of work for 40 years, in the UK women currently earn up to 19.1% less than men do, a disparity that reaches right up to executive level. The government is to reveal a plan to tackle this discrimination in the workplace over the course of this week. Minister for Women and Equalities, Nicky Morgan, commented: “Business has made huge amounts of progress already in recent years – the gender pay gap is the lowest since records began, but it should appall us all that, 100 years on from the Suffragette movement, we still don’t have gender equality in every aspect of our society.”

Over the weekend, the first of these measures was revealed whereby businesses with over 250 employees will have to disclose the bonuses they are awarding to staff. The government has said it plans to apply these rules to the public sector, not just the private sector.

The government also announced it is working on additional steps to enable success in the workplace: having previously launched an initiative to increase female representation on FTSE100 boards to 25%, the government now wants to extend its efforts and bring an end to all-male boards in FTSE 350 businesses.

Measures such as these are a step in the right direction to help women be successful in their careers, however there’s still a lot to be done before equality is achieved in the workplace.